Path of the Pioneers

I tensed up, activating [Aesthesia] at once. Five humans, two meters behind us, closely-knit together. One with a sword and shield, well-armored, one wi-

“Don’t move a muscle or we’ll put an end to you, bloodspiller.”

Adeline had tried to turn to face the group, but was stopped short with their words. She glanced towards me with her eyes alone, and then gave me a solemn smile. She addressed the soldiers behind us, “Just five hunters? Is that all the Crown can scrounge up?”

There was a grumble from the armored one, and they stepped forward, only to be abruptly pulled back by one wielding a spear. There was muttering between the two of them, something about not letting her “get in your head.” The armored one sighed, and I ‘felt’ as they rubbed the bridge of their nose with annoyance.

“She clearly doesn’t plan on coming quietly, Olivia- this..” They gestured towards Adeline, “Mad beast cut down a score of our weakest. Not to mention the injured.”

Olivia (who seemed to be the one wielding the spear) gave a retort, “This kind of chatter ill befits our post, Grant. It’s clear we won’t simply be apprehending her, but still.” She stared towards this Grant for a moment, and then her gaze moved back towards Adeline, she spoke in a flat tone to her, “Adeline Cirix, you are wanted for the maiming of Lucas Grivash, the killings of twenty-one Crown Hunters, and the injury of many more.”

She continued, her voice filled with a tinge of hostility, “If you would make this process difficult for us, then get on with it. But I assure you that our five against your two will make this a terrible ordeal for you and your friend.”

A dangerous look flashed across Adeline’s face, and she once again looked at me. “More than friends, actually.” She grinned, “Trying to get further, as well, so do excuse me if I’m hesitant to the idea of being locked in shackles and executed.” The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out as Grant descended upon her in an instant. Adeline had turned and deflected it just as quickly, still smiling as she deftly hopped away.

I backed off as well, taking stock of the situation.

One archer, three melee fighters, and one.. Mage? A man with short, blonde hair and tired eyes was holding a simple wooden staff, and he seemed to be preparing a spell of some kind, mana welling up in the tip of the staff. His focus was on me.

Every other member of the group seemed more than intent to focus on Adeline, though the archer shot me quick looks here and there.

Things felt uncertain. For starters, I wasn’t at all prepared for fighting other humans, I had only practiced on Adeline. She seemed perfectly comfortable in this environment, as if fighting humans was as simple a thing as monsters.

But, my thinking and planning took far too long. The mana in the mage’s staff was released, and a ball of flame began hurtling towards me. The mana within it was volatile and chaotic, as if it were ready to burst violently against whatever it struck. It was disconnected from the caster, so its trajectory was almost certainly fixed.

I leapt to the side, and kept running. The two points made an unbelievable difference in my capacity to move.

Two? No, I received more than that, didn’t I?

The orb burst behind me, quickly exploding into a sphere of heat and flame that was a little over two meters across. An arrow whizzed towards me, and I could feel it running a collision course directly for my chest.

Threads flew from my hand as I cast [Telekinesis], snatching the arrow from the air with a deftness that surprised even myself. Reeling the threads back, and then surging them forward, I let their grasp loosen from the arrow, flinging it towards the mage’s staff hand. It was slightly slower than the archer’s bow had managed to fire it, but it still met its mark with great ease.

He dropped his staff with a groan of pain, and it clattered to the ground uselessly. I pointed a hand towards him, readying to cast [Energy Missile].

Do it, Sybil. Just a bit more. Just a bit more.

Images flooded into my mind. The hobgoblin in the Spire, clutching its throat as it bled out on the ground. The tactile feeling of the imps’ flesh giving into the push of my dagger, the-

I cast [Energy Missile], a beam of magic blasting towards the mage’s head. It just barely missed, screeching past the side of his ear. I stalled for a moment, caught off guard. I felt an arrow pierce my side, and realized I had let go of [Aesthesia] for a moment.

I nearly screamed from the feeling of it piercing into me, tearing flesh and threatening to scratch up my insides. Panic almost set in, but I pushed it down, forced it down. I couldn’t afford to be a coward. Adeline couldn’t afford me being a coward.

[Aesthesia] reactivated. The mage was reaching down to pick up his staff, taking advantage of my opening, the archer had notched another arrow. They were going to kill me if they could, I could feel it. Adeline was the one they needed, not me. My only escape here was to fight my way out.

Three arrows flew at me this time, all going towards different parts of my body. Just the same as before, threads flew out to meet them. This kind of multi-tasking became far easier with [Aesthesia], I noticed. It was incredibly difficult to do anything like this before I received the skill.

Like a sling, I manipulated the threads, sending one arrow after the other towards the mage. The first flew towards his hand again, and he raised his staff to intercept it, a barrier of mana causing it to stop dead in the air before falling to the ground. While he focused on the first, I manipulated the second. I brought it all the way to him, piercing it into his exposed leg with a rough jab.

He stared down at his leg. The fact that he hadn’t dodged it betrayed a simple fact: He only had his eyes to rely upon.

I flung the final arrow, and it met its mark, between the mage’s eyes. I didn’t have time to watch him fall over dead, but I felt it. I had just killed someone.

I tried to wash down a sickening wave of nausea that came over me, doing my upmost to maintain [Aesthesia]. There was one more focused on me, the archer. They stared slack jawed at their ally’s body, “M-Marcus..?” Their eyes shut tight, and shook their head, black hair falling over their eyes before they brushed it away.

“You won’t get away with this.. Y-you.. The Crown will put an end to you. And I.. I will act as its hand!” They notched several more arrows, eight of them, to be exact.

I was ready, almost frighteningly ready to intercept their attacks, or to simply disappear and put a knife in their side. But I managed to snap myself out of it, taking a deep breath. “W-wait. Wait! I..- Can you not just go back home? Give up on this.. This madness. I..” I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to be as sincere as I could without letting the will to fight wash away from me, “I don’t want to kill you. Please.”

A mixture of emotions overcame them, their face shaking with loosely held-back rage. “Think I preferred the quiet girl that understood what this was.” They spoke in a hushed tone, as if any more would drive them into a frenzy, “You killed a friend of mine, and a fellow Hunter. I don’t care if you needed a corpse to act as a stepping stool towards your high ground of peace, I’m not letting you take it.”

Eight arrows flew towards me all at once in a diagonal line, and I felt as they readied several more to fire. There was an opening to the right, a gap. I lunged towards it. Nine more came out in my direction, a circle of arrows that would leave me looking like a pincushion. They had anticipated that I’d take the opening -- no, they planned on it.

I sent out threads with [Telekinesis], and quickly bundled up four of the arrows with them. Five remained, a meter from hurtling into my legs, abdomen, and hands. I dove out of the way of the rest, throwing the four arrows at the archer to distract them as I clambered awkwardly up and off of the ground.

I drew Tanascáil, holding it tightly as I used [Cloak of Shadows], disappearing from sight. Their gaze traveled all around, before they eventually grabbed every last arrow from their quiver. I had made it halfway towards them when they fired the volley upwards. The arrows went up quickly, stalling in the air for a moment before plummeting down with great speed. There was a lone opening in the middle, with only enough room for one -- them.

The precision with which they utilized their arrows was something to behold, but I would die if I spent my time marveling at it.

I was able to close the distance as the arrows entered [Aesthesia]’s range, and I forced my body to perform a series of actions that would have been refused had I not been at risk of dying. My dagger jabbed into their chest, stabbing into where their heart should have been. I shoved them forward with every bit of strength I had, leaving the space open for myself.

With a wet cough, I watched blood spill freely from their lips as they laid on their back. Their eyes were locked on mine, burning with something that seemed to be on the verge of disappearing. The arrows pierced into their body, and were nearly silent save for the small sound of their momentum being halted by the archer's body. A small whimper and gasp escaped them, but death took its hold an instant afterwards. Arrows were scattered across the ground around me, sunk into the stone and dirt.

I was left to stare at what I wrought, the ringing in my ears wasn’t loud enough to cover the sound of Adeline’s fight in the distance. The arrow in my side hurt terribly, especially when I moved, but this fight was not yet over.

Not even close.